Applicator



March 3 1970 L. F. KUTIK ETAL 3,497,900

APPLICATOR Filed June 7, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 w I 6 Q 95 INVENTORS v ERICH w GRONEMEYER 92 94 LOU/S E KUTIK United States Patent O 3,497,900 APPLICA'IOR Louis F. Kutilr, 5601 SW. 56th St., and Erich W. Gronemeyer, 3430 Gait Ocean Drive, Commodore Apt. 1401, both of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33308 Filed June 7, 1957, Ser. No. 644,143 Int. Cl. A46b 11/00; B03b 1/00 U.S. Cl. 15104.93

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An applicator is provided which may be pre-loaded with material such as soap, paint, cosmetics, medications or the like at the manufacturing stage, and later used to apply the pre-loaded material to an object. The applicator is in the form of a brush having bristles extending from a holder or backing element, and the bristles have protrusions projecting laterally therefrom, which serve to hold fiowable material in the brush when such material is applied to the brush. The lateral protrusions may extend between adjacent bristles and join those bristles together, or the protrusions may project laterally from the bristles and terminate in free ends.

9 Claims BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION When fiowable material is applied to known brushes, it must ordinarily be promptly applied to an object by brushing since otherwise the material will drain off of the brush. There are no provisions within the ordinary brush for holding fiowable material on the brush for a protracted period of time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is now proposed to provide an applicator in the form of a brush which has provisions for holding fiowable material in the brush. Thus, the brush may be pre-loaded with fiowable material at the time the brush is manufactured, and the brush may be marketed with the Howable material stored in it. The consumer then buys the pre-loaded brush, uses it to apply the pre-loaded material to an object, and then may discard the used brush.

As an example, a brush may be pre-loaded with soap and sold as a disposable item with soap already stored in it. The user brushes his hands with the brush, and soap is applied to the hands from the brush as a result of the brushing action. When the brushing is completed, the used brush may be dicarded if desired. Such a brush is well suited for use by surgeons since the brush may be supplied in a sterile condition and discarded after use to maintain sterile conditions. Alternatively, a shoe brush may be pie-loaded with polish, a paint brush may be pre-loaded with paint, a tooth brush may be pre-loaded with toothpaste, or the like.

Specifically, a brush is provided with elongated bristles which have lateral protrusions extending therefrom, and the protrusions serve to hold fiowable material in the brush so that is can be stored therein until the brush is used. The lateral protrusions may extend between and join together adjacent bristles of the brush, or the protrusions may simply project laterally from the bristles and terminate in free ends. In either case, the protrusions block the direct flow of material from the bristles, and the fiowable material tends to cling to the protrusions, thus the material will not drain out of the brush as rapidly as would be the case with straight bristles. The brush may find applications wherein the protrusions on the bristles serve merely to retard the drainage of fiowable material while the material is being brushed onto an object.

3,497,900 Patented Mar. 3, 1970 The method of making the brush with lateral protrusions includes steps of injecting plasticized thermoplastic material into a backing-defining mold cavity, injecting plasticized material from the mold cavity into elongated bristle-defining cavities communicating with the mold cavity, and injecting plasticized thermoplastic material from the bristle-defining cavities into lateral extensions of the latter cavities which form protrusions on the bristles. The molds used in carrying out the method have grooves or slots in mold members such as plates or rods, and the grooves or slots form the bristles. The grooves or slots have extensions projecting laterally therefrom which communicates with the main grooves or slots and into which plasticized thermoplastic material is introduced to form the protrusions on the bristles. The extensions may extend, between adjoining grooves or slots to form protrusions which join bristles together, or the extensions may terminate in free ends to form protrusions having free ends. As a final step in the manufacturingof the brush, fiowable material may be applied to the bristles as by dipping, and the fiowable material is retained in the brush by the protrusions on the bristles. The fiowable material is then stored in the brush until it is used, and the brush may be sold with the fiowable material already stored in it.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a brush in which fiowable material may be pre-loaded, stored and later applied to an object by brushing.

Another object of the invention is to provide a brush with means for holding fiowable material on bristles of the brush.

Another object of the invention is to provide a brush with bristles having lateral protrusions thereon for holding fiowable material in the brush, the protrusions either joining adjacent bristles together, or simply projecting from bristles and terminating in free ends.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

On the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a brush having bristles with protrusions thereon in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary elevational view of the end of the brush of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a portion of a grooved pin or rod which may be used to form mold cavities in the molding of the brush of FIGURES 1 and 2;

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view showing 4 of the pins or rods of FIGURE 3 grouped together so as to form bristle-defining cavities with extensions between the cavities;

FIGURE 5 is a schematic view showing a group of pins or rods with a backing-forming mold at the top thereof;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary elevational view of a brush having a group of four bristles all joined together by a single lateral member;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of two mold members in the form of plates which may be used to mold the brush of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary elevational view of a brush having bristles with protrusions thereon which terminate in free ends;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view showing portions of molding plates which may be used to mold the brush of FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 10 is a perspective view of a round pin having longitudinal grooves therein joined by a lateral groove for forming bristles joined together by a lateral protrusion; and

FIGURE 11 is a plan view showing several of the pins of FIGURE 9 inserted into holes in a plate for forming bristle-defining cavities.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways, Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

As shown on the drawings:

Referring first to FIGURES 1 and 2, there is shown enlarged and not to scale a portion of a brush 20 having a plastic backing member 22 and a plurality of plastic bristles 24 formed integrally with the backing member 22 and projecting perpendicularly from the backing memher in parallel relation with each other. It may be seen the bristles 24 have protrusions in the form of strips 26 extending between and joining together adjacent bristles, and these strips 26 are spaced a substantial distance away from the tips of the bristles 24. The strips 26 may be molded along with the bristles and are preferably integral with the bristles of the brush.

It may be seen from FIGURES 1 and 2 that if the brush 20 is dipped into a liquid, the protrusions or strips 26 will tend to hold at least some of the liquid material up in the brush, and the liquid will not drain out of the brush as efliciently or as rapidly as if the protrusions 26 were not present. Thus, a material such as soap, paint, cosemetics, or medications may be pre-loaded in the brush 20, and the brush may be packaged in a suitable manner to protect the material pre-loaded in the brush. The brush may then be marketed through normal distribution channels, and the ultimate user may simply remove the brush from the packaging and apply the pre-loaded material to an object by brushing the object with the brush 20. After the brushing is completed, the brush may be discarded if desired.

The utility of the brush 20 is not limited to the preloading of flowable material as just described. The brush may be marketed without pre-loaded material in it, and in this case it is simply dipped into the liquid to be applied to an object at the time of use. The protrusions or strips 26 will retard the drainage of liquid material off of the bristles of the brush such that the material will be applied more gradually to the object than if the protrusions 26 were not present. By blocking the draining of liquid, a greater amount of liquid is retained in the brush and the liquid applying efliciency of the brush is enhanced.

FIGURES 3, 4 and illustrate molding pins and a method of molding using the pins so as to mold the brush 20 of FIGURES 1 and 2. A method of molding using pins of the type shown in FIGURES 3 through 5 is described and claimed in a copending application of the present inventors, Ser. No. 616,670, filed on Feb. 16, 1967, and reference is made to that application for details of the general molding method. The molding method of the present application is an improvement over the general method and is adapted to provide protrusions 26 on the bristles of a brush.

In FIGURE 3 is a pin 30 which is square in crosssection, and which has two grooves 32 and 34 on each face of the pin and extending longitudinally of the pin as shown. There is a groove extension 36 extending laterally between each pair of grooves 32 and 34, and the purpose of this groove extension 36 is to form the protrusions 26 of the brush 20. The groove extensions 36 should preferably be shallow and have a curved configuration as shown in FIGURE 3 to facilitate removal of the bristles and protrusions from the grooves and groove extensions.

FIGURE 4 shows four of the pins 30 grouped together so as to form bristle-defining cavities with protrusionforming cavities extending between the bristle-forming cavities. It may be seen that the grooves 32, 34 and 36 in adjacent ones of the pins 30 match up to form bristledefining cavities 40 with protrusion-defining extensions 42 joining and communicating with the cavities 40. The pins 30 are held together by suitable clamping or cam means during molding so that the cavities 40 and 42 are sealed, and the pin members 30 are separated slightly after the molding is completed to facilitate removal of the bristles 24 and protrusion 26 from the cavities 40 and 42. Suitable provisions for clamping and unclamping the members 30 are described in the copending application referred to previously.

Referring to FIGURE 5, it may be seen that a hollow mold member 44 is placed over the top ends of the pins 30 to form a backing-defining cavity 46. In molding the brush, plasticized thermoplastic material is introduced into the backing-defining cavity 46 through an opening 48, and the plasticized thermoplastic material is supplied from cavity 46 into the bristle-defining cavities 46 formed by the grooves 32 and 34 and from there into the protrusiondefining cavities 40 formed by grooves 36. After molding, the mold member 44 is removed from pins 30, and the pins 30 are separated slightly to facilitate removal of the brush. The brush with the backing 22, bristles 24 and protrusions 26 all molded integrally with each other is removed from the pins 30.

After the brush is removed from the mold members, it may be dipped into a liquid material as described above in order to pre-load the brush with flowable material. The brush has been found to be particularly advantageous when pre-loaded with soap, since one can then scrub the hands with the pre-loaded soap by brushing, and the brush can be discarded after use. Surgeons may find this technique of scrubbing particularly useful since the brush and soap may be kept sterile before use, and the brush may be discarded after use to main sterile conditions.

FIGURE 6 illustrates a portion of a brush 50 'which forms another embodiment of the invention. The brush 50 has a backing element 52 and bristles 54 projecting perpendicularly from the backing element 52 and parallel to each other. There is a protrusion or strip 56 which joins all four of the bristles 54 together. The backing element 52, the bristles 54 and the protrusion or strip 56 are preferably all formed integrally together of the same plastic material. The strip 56 is spaced a substantial distance from the tips of the bristles 54, and it may be noted that strip 56 is on the outside of the bristles and projects into the space between rows of bristles. The strip 56 serves to hold flowable material in the brush 50 in the manner and for the purposes described above.

FIGURE 7 illustrates two plate-like mold members which may be used in molding of the brush 50 of FIG- URE 6. A general method of molding utilizing such plate members is described in US. Patents 3,214,777 to Louis Kutik, and reference is made to that patent for details of the general molding method using plates. It may be seen in FIGURE 7 that one plate '60 is provided with a plurality of grooves in the form of slots 62 which are cut all the way through the thickness of the plate and extend vertically in the plate substantial distance. When two plates like the plate 64, which has no slots, are placed on opposite sides of plate 60, the slots 62 in plate 60 form bristle-defining cavities. It may be seen that a groove 66 is cut in one face of the plate 64, and this groove serves to interconnect all of the slots 62 in plate 60. The bristles 54- of brush 50 are formed in the slots 62 of plate 60, and the strip 56 which interconnects the bristles 54 is formed in the groove 66 in plate 64.

To form a complete brush, a plurality of slotted plates 60 are placed alternately between un-slotted plates 64 having grooves 66 therein to form bristle-defining cavities at the slots 62, and protrusion-defining extensions defined by the grooves 66. A mold member similar to the mold member 44 of FIGURE is placed over the top of the plates 62 and 64 to form a backing-defining cavity. Plasticized thermoplastic material is injected into the backingdefining cavity and is injected from there to the bristledefining cavities formed by the slots 62. The plasticized material is injected from the slots 62 into the lateral grooves 66 to fill the protrusion-defining cavities. The plasticized material is allowed to solidify, and the plates are then separated slightly to allow the complete brush to be withdrawn from the plates.

FIGURE 8 shows a portion of a brush 70 which forms another embodiment of the invention. The brush 70 includes a backing member 72 and a plurality of bristles 74 projecting perpendicularly from the backing element 72 and parallel with each other. The bristles 74 have protrusions 76 thereon which project laterally from the bristles 74 and terminate in free ends. This illustrates that it is not essential to have the protrusions interconnect the joining bristles, but rather they may simply project from the bristles and terminate in free ends as shown. The pro trusions 76 may all be provided at the same distance from the tips of the bristles 74, or they may be staggered along the bristles in a manner shown in FIGURE 8. Similarly, the protrusions or strips 26 in FIGURE 1 and 56 in FIG- URE 6 may be provided at different distances from the tips of the bristles. The protrusions 76 serves to hold flowable material in the brush 70 in the same manner as has been described above.

Referring to FIGURE 9, there is shown a pair of plates 78 and 80 which may be used for molding the brush 70'. Plate 78 is very similar to plate 60 of FIGURE 7 and has a plurality of grooves in the form of slots 82 spaced along the length thereof and extending vertically a substantial distance. The slots 82 are cut all the way through the thickness of the plate 78, and it will be apparent that when two blank plates like the plate 80 are placed on opposite sides of plate 78, the slots 82 form bristle-defining cavities. There are no slots or grooves cut in the plate 84), and the latter plates are simply blanks for forming boundary walls of the bristle-defining cavities. Cut into the sides of the plate portions 84 between the slots 82 are protrusion-defining recesses 86. One such recess has been provided on each slot of each plate portion 84 such that protrusions formed in the recesses 86 will project from both sides of each bristle 74 in the manner shown in FIGURE 8. The recesses 86 are open on one side of the plate 78, and this open side is closed by the blank plate member 80 when it is placed next to the slotted plate 7 8.

In molding a brush using the plates 78 and 80 of FIG- URE 9, a group of the plates are assembled together with the slotted plates 78 alternating with the blank plates 80. A backing-defining mold member similar to the mold member 44 of FIGURE 5 is placed on the top side of the assembly of plates, and this mold member serves to fom the barking 72 of the brush 70. Plasticized thermoplastic material is introduced into the backing-defining mold cavity and is supplied from there into the bristle-defining cavities formed by the slots 82. The plasticized material enters the recesses 86 and forms the protrusions 76 therein. After the plasticized material has solidified, the backing-defining mold member is removed, the plates are separated, and the brush is removed from the plates. The bristles of the brush may be moved laterally with respect to the mold member 18 to spring the protrusions 76 loose from the recess of 86, and the brush may then be withdrawn from the plates.

FIGURES and 11 show still another way of molding bristles with protrusions formed thereon, and in this case the bristles are molded using round pins 90. The pin 90 in FIGURE 10 has two pairs of grooves 92 and 94 extending lengthwise thereof parallel to each other, and there is a protrusion-defining groove 96 extending between grooves 92 and 94. The grooves 92 and 94 form cavities in which the bristles of a brush are molded, and the groove 96 forms a protrusion which joins two adjoining bristles together.

FIGURE 11 shows several of the pins inserted into holes in a plate 98 so that the groove 92 and 94 form bristle-defining cavities. The grooves 96 are shown 'by dashed lines in FIGURE 10, and it will be understood that they interconnect bristle-defining cavities 92 and 94. Molding is accomplished in the same manner as has been described in connection with the other figures. That is, a mold member for forming a backing is placed on top of the plate 78 in the manner shown in FIGURE 5. Plasticized thermoplastic material is introduced into the backing-defining cavity and flows from there into the bristle-defining cavities and into the groove 96 extending between each pair of cavities 92 and 94. When the plasticized material has solidified, the backing-defining mold is removed from the plate 98, and the pins 90 are also removed from the plate 98. The brush may then be separated from the pins 90.

It is apparent from the foregoing description that the invention provides an applicator in the form of a brush which has provisions for holding flowable material in the brush. The brush may be pre-loaded with fiowable material, and the .fiowable material will stay in the brush until it is used at a substantially later time. Alternatively, flowable material may be applied to the brush at the time of use thereof, and the provisions for holding flowable material in the brush serve to retard the flow of material out of the brush to provide a gradual or more effiecient application of material from the brush. The holding action is achieved by providing protrusions on the bristles of the brush, and these protrusions may be in the form of joints between bristles or simply protrusions on the bristles which terminate in free ends. The protrusions are spaced a substantial distance from the tips of the brush to keep material well up into the brush. The bristles with protrusions thereon may be molded from plastic material integrally with a backing element by any of the methods described above, and mold members are provided which have protrusion-forming cavities associated with the bristle-defining cavities thereof as has been described.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a bristled product having a backing element and a plurality of individual bristles integral with and projecting from said backing element substantially perpendicular thereto and terminating in free ends, the improvement comprising a plurality of protrusions projecting laterally substantially at right angles from at least some of said bristles and integral there-with, said protrusions being spaced substantially from said free ends of said bristles and serving to retain flowable material on said bristles intermediate said protrusions and said backing element, said backing element and said bristles and said protrusions all being molded as one piece.

2. The brush as claimed in claim 1 in which at least some of said protrusions extend between and join together adjacent bristles of said brush.

3. The brush as claimed in claim 1 in which at least some of said protrusions project laterally from the respective bristles and terminate in a free end.

4. An applicator comprising a brush consisting of a bristle holder and a plurality of bristles projecting from said holder substantially parallel to each other and terminating in free ends, a plurality of protrusions projecting laterally at substantially right angles from at least some of said bristles, and a liquid material retained by said protrusions in said brush in a condition to be applied to an object by brushing the object with said brush, said bristle holder, said bristles and said protrusions all being formed integrally as one piece.

5. An applicator comprising a backing of plastic material, a plurality of plastic bristles integral at one end thereof with said plastic backing and projecting from said backing substantially perpendicular thereto and terminating in a free end, plastic protrusions projecting laterally at substantially right angles from at least some of said bristles and integral therewith, said protrusions being spaced substantially from the free ends of said bristles, and a flowable material retained intermediate said protrusions and said backing in said applicator in a condition to be applied to an object by brushng the object with said applicator, said backing, said bristles, and said protrusions being molded integrally as one piece.

6. The applicator as claimed in claim in which at least some of said protrusions extend bet-ween and join together adjacent bristles of said applicator.

7. The applicator as claimed in claim 5 in which at least some of said protrusions project laterally from the respective bristles and terminate in a free end.

8. In a bristled product having a backing element and a plurality of individual bristles projecting from said backing element substantially perpendicular thereto and terminating in free ends, the improvement comprising a plurality of protrusions projecting laterally at least from some of said bristles and integral therewith, said protrusions extending between and joining together adjacent bristles of said product, and said protrusions being spaced substantially from said free ends of said bristles and serving to retain flowable material on said bristles.

9. An applicator comprising a backing of plastic material, a plurality of plastic bristles integral at one end 8 thereof with said plastic backing and projecting from said backing substantially perpendicular thereto and terminating in a free end, plastic protrusions projecting laterally from at least some of said bristles and integral therewith,

said protrusions extending between and joining together adjacent bristles of said applicator, and said protrusions being spaced substantially from the free ends of said :bristles, and a flowable material retained intermediate said protrusions and said backing in said applicator in a condition to be appled to an object by brushing the object with said applicator.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 564,497 7/1896 Ba'bis l5104.9 2,524,942 10/1950 Tomlinson. 2,649,959 8/ 1953 Hallahan. 3,090,061 5/1963 Charvat 15-159 3,411,979 11/1968 Lewis.

FOREIGN PATENTS 958,327 9/ 1949 France.

950,461 10/ 1956 Germany. 1,140,901 12/1962 Germany.

306,337 3/1933 Italy.

PETER FELDMAN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

